


Song

by elumish



Series: Close to Immortality [1]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Episode: s01e01-e02 Rising, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-06
Updated: 2015-05-06
Packaged: 2018-03-29 07:05:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3886888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elumish/pseuds/elumish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The city was singing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Song

The city was singing.

It was an almost non-existent sound, like someone listening to music the next room over, John catching snatches of it when he turned his head the right way. It had started the second he stepped into the city, his muscles trembling from nerves because _holy shit he had just been demolecularized_ , and then it was there, warm and soothing and calming him down so he could look around and see what was going on.

And it had faded in his mind as he had explored, no longer distracting but just there like a hand on the back of his next reminding him he wasn’t alone.

And then he had shot Sumner and woken the scariest things he had ever seen in his life, and the city had welcomed him back with warmth and forgiveness and a song that he felt like he knew even though he had never heard it before. And when he had been bent over his bizarre Ancient toilet dry-heaving because all he could see was Sumner’s head exploding and all he could feel was his hands firing the shot, the music was the hand on his back, the stroking through his hair.

Somehow it was a different in different parts of the city, bold and excited in the gate room where it lit up for him, mournful in the flooded areas of the city, tired when it reached for energy and couldn’t find it.

And it sang only for him.

“What do you mean, it’s singing?”

John slumped back in his chair, staring through slitted eyes at McKay, who was going through an MRE like it was a gourmet meal. “There’s music coming from the city.”

McKay grabbed his tablet and started tapping on it with one hand even while he kept on eating with the other. “I haven’t gotten any other reports of that. Where have you been hearing it? Be specific—don’t just give me ‘the walls’.”

Specific? “The city.”

McKay glared at him. “That is literally the opposite of specific, Major. I don’t know what they teach you in the military, but your education is clearly subpar.”

John fought the urge to start listening off his educational qualifications—things he hadn’t even liked to think about while he was completing it, even though he had loved his math classes—and instead settled with, “It is literally coming from the city. I can only hear it while I am in the city, but I can hear it everywhere in the city.”

His eyes narrowed. “I don’t think that’s supposed to be happening.”

“It’s…” John was pretty sure he was going to sound crazy. “I’m not hearing it with my ears. I’m hearing it with my brain.”

Now McKay smiled, or as close as it looked like he smiled while operating on what John was fairly certain was about half an hour of passed-out-over-his-keyboard sleep. “Ah. Well, Major, that’s because of how your gene connects to Ancient tech. Your brain is turning the connection into music.”

“Is that…normal?”

“I don’t think anything counts as normal when it comes to Ancient tech.” McKay shoveled some more food into his mouth then, without swallowing, said, “You’re in charge now, Major. Maybe don’t tell people the city’s singing to you.”

Probably a good point. And somehow, selfishly, he liked the thought of this wonderful city singing only for him.


End file.
